


Wherever You Go Today

by RainyForecast



Series: Self-care for Supersoldiers [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 1940s boys vs coffee that is cold on purpose, Bucky has a Good Day, Coffee, Fluff, M/M, Memories of Brooklyn, Nice Things For Steve and Bucky 2k16, Post CA:TWS, Recovery, Sam Wilson's niece is better than you, Sass, So Steve has a Good Day, Vignette, part of a series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-14 17:52:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5752654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainyForecast/pseuds/RainyForecast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky Barnes is having a staring contest with a teenager, and he is losing. Specifically, Bucky Barnes, ex-assassin, sniper, former army sergeant, is having a staring contest (of sorts) with Sam Wilson's sixteen-year-old niece across the breakfast table. And is losing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>beta'd by rhien and fatal_mystique, who are the absolute best in all ways. </p>
<p>Title is from the song "Mykonos" by the Fleet Foxes. </p>
<p>****Recipe in the end notes!****</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wherever You Go Today

 

Bucky Barnes is having a staring contest with a teenager, and he is losing. Specifically, Bucky Barnes, ex-assassin, sniper, former army sergeant, is having a staring contest (of sorts) with Sam Wilson's sixteen-year-old niece across the breakfast table. And is losing.

“Why is she here again?” Bucky asks, as Sam's niece takes a long, obnoxious slurp of the elaborate iced coffee drink she's holding. She looks so studiously unimpressed that Steve figures she’s probably anything but.

“Sam was showing her around the tower for a school project and then got called away, so she's going to ‘hang’ here for a while,” Steve patiently explains.

“Don't try and use modern slang Steve, it's painful,” Bucky says, rolling his eyes. Sam's niece snorts. Bucky’s in high dudgeon today, it seems. It makes Steve ridiculously happy. “Kid-” Bucky turns back toward the girl.

“Amanda.”  So unimpressed.

“Kid. What's with the ice in your fucking coffee.”  

_Slurp._

Amanda gives Bucky a long, considering look.

“Weren't you brainwashed?” is what comes out of her mouth next. Steve nearly chokes on the piece of toast he’s eating. Bucky just tilts his head to one side a bit.

“Yup.”

“That’s fucked up.” Amanda swirls the ice in her cup.

“Uh-huh,” is all Bucky says. It’s maybe the first time Steve has ever heard him say as much.

_Sluuuuurp._

Both men shudder a little at the noise. Bucky reaches out with his flesh hand. “Gimme a sip of that, kid.” Amanda hands her drink over, and Bucky eyes it with great suspicion before tasting it. He pauses for a moment after, stares at the cup, tilts it from side to side.  

“It’s good, right?” Amanda’s nonchalant composure has cracked, and she now looks a combination of giddy and smug. Bucky glares at her. She grins back.

“I’m still not paying what they ask for this stuff,” Bucky grumbles.

“Whatever, Grandpa.”

_Grandpa_ , Steve mouths in disbelief.

“You can make it at home too, you know,” Amanda says. “I can show you. You got the internet?”

Steve picks up the rest of his toast and (hot) coffee, and makes a strategic retreat to the living room. He’s not getting involved in this.

 

***

 

“Folgers?!” Amanda shrieks indignantly, some time later. Steve half expects the can of  grounds to come sailing out of the kitchen doorway.

“How the hell did a kid like you get so hoity-toity about coffee?” Bucky responds.

“My dad’s in import-export,” Amanda replies. “Also, I have tastebuds. Did yours get burned off in cryo?”

Steve’s stomach drops and he’s on his feet immediately. Is she _trying_ to trigger him into a flashback? But after only a beat of silence that feels horrified even from out here in the living room, Bucky starts laughing. Loudly. Like Steve hasn’t heard him do since… he doesn’t even know when. Before Bucky had shipped off to Basic.

Steve steps hesitantly into the kitchen, needing to see but not wanting to ruin the moment. Bucky is doubled over into himself, tears in his eyes, and Amanda is looking a little nervous.

“Stevie!” Bucky gasps out. “This punk. She’s got a mouth on her like you did, back--back before.” And he turns to smile at Steve, and it’s wide, and beautiful, and Steve will not do anything stupid, like start getting teary-eyed. He’s a superhero, damn it.

“Are you sure you’ve got it right?” Steve say, and his voice doesn't even wobble. Kudos to him. “I kinda remember a run-in between you, Sister Mary Josephine, and a bar of soap that proves you were as bad as I was.”

“Ooooo!” Amanda looks delighted. “You guys were a couple of _little shits_!” There’s not a lot Steve can do except shrug in a noncommittal manner. Bucky’s laughter has subsided, but he’s still smiling at Steve, eyes bright. Steve wants to kiss him senseless.

“ _Very_ little, in Stevie’s case,” Bucky says, and Steve can’t help himself anymore. Making sure to telegraph his movements, he wraps his arms around Bucky and buries his face in Bucky’s long hair. Bucky lets him, and even brings his right hand up to thump Steve on the back.

“Punk,” he mutters, so low Steve almost doesn't hear.

“Jerk,” Steve manages to reply.

He lets Bucky go after a moment, and catches sight of Amanda’s expression of unbridled glee as she looks at them. _Shhh_ , Steve mimes, with a finger held to his lips when Bucky isn’t looking. Amanda makes a zipping gesture across her mouth but continues to smirk like a cat let loose in a roomful of small flightless birds. Damn. He tries not to be so obvious, he really does.

 

***

 

“You _like_ him. You’re in _love_ with him,” Amanda whispers to him later, as across the kitchen Bucky measures cinnamon carefully out into an empty glass jar. Steve gives Amanda a Look.

“And that’s not something I want to lay on him right now,” he tells her firmly under his breath. Using his Captain America tone.

“Ok fiiiiine. But it’s gonna kill me that I can’t tell my best friend her favorite ship is canon.”

“What.”

“Never mind, too much to explain. Hey, not that kind of sugar, the other one.” She darts away to correct Bucky’s coffee experiment, and Steve is struck by the tableau. Bucky and the girl bickering companionably about whatever it is they’re doing, morning light falling softly around them.

_Someday_ , he thinks. Not now, not while Bucky is still mired in trauma and only has days this good every once in awhile. But he’ll get better, he will. And, when the time is right, Steve will tell him. Everything.

 

_Buck, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t completely, totally,_ madly _in love with you._

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've decided to dig in my heels and try to have EVERY TITLE in this series be a fragment of the same Fleet Foxes song, because I want to see if I can. Anyway. 
> 
> This cold brew coffee recipe I found years ago will change your life. I’m not even joking. I dump it all in a French press and leave it in the fridge overnight instead of the jar method used in the recipe, and it’s much easier to strain the coffee from the grounds that way. 
> 
> Love yourself. Make the coffee.  
> http://food52.com/recipes/2018-magical-coffee
> 
> “Magic Coffee” Iced Coffee Base (from food52.com)
> 
> ⅔ cup coarsely ground coffee  
> 3 cups water  
> 1 teaspoon cinnamon  
> 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
> 
> -Put ingredients in a quart jar and stir.  
> -Cover and refrigerate overnight.
> 
> The Finished Drink
> 
> Milk, half and half, or cream  
> Ice
> 
> -Pour the coffee base through a sieve or strainer into a bowl, then strain back into jar for easy storage.  
> -For each drink: Fill a tall glass halfway with ice. Pour in coffee until glass is about 3/4 full, and add milk/half and half/cream to taste.  
> -Die of happiness.
> 
>  
> 
> Banner image credit:  
> “Blue Bottle, Kyoto Style Ice Coffee” by Kenny Louie (CC BY)


End file.
